News from the Library of Congress

October 7, 1999

American Folklife Center To Hold Benefit Concert

The American Folklife Center, in cooperation
with the North American Folk Music and Dance
Alliance and the Folklore Society of Greater
Washington, will hold a benefit concert on
Wednesday, December 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the State
Theater, 220 Washington Street, Falls Church,
Virginia.

Appearing will be Pete Seeger, with his grandson
Tao Rodriguez-Seeger; Christine Balfa and Dirk
Powell; Geno Delofose; Stephen Wade; Hazel
Dickens and Dudley Connell; Alan Jabbour; the
gospel group "Prophecy" (composed of former D.C.
policemen); members of the Henry Reed family and
other special guests.

Tickets are $25 and are available from the Folk
Alliance by phone (202) 835-3655 or through the
Folk Alliance web site: www.folk.org.

Proceeds from the concert will be used to create
the Henry Reed Fund for Folk Artists at the
American Folklife Center in the Library of
Congress. Named for West Virginia fiddler Henry
Reed (1884-1968), the fund will be used to
benefit folk artists and the Archive of Folk
Culture at the Library of Congress. The Archive
was founded in 1928 as a repository for American
folk music and is now one of the largest
collections of ethnographic documentary
materials from the United States and around the
world. Additional donations may be sent directly
to the Library of Congress, American Folklife
Center, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington,
D.C. 20540-4610. Checks should be made payable
to the American Folklife Center with "Henry Reed
Fund" written on the comment line.